Projecting into the air on stems – normally woody perennials - with resting buds more than 25 cms above soil level, e.g. trees and shrubs, but also epiphytes, which Raunkiær separated out as a special group in later versions of the system.

May be further subdivided according to plant height in megaphanerophytes, mesophanerophytes and nanophanerophytes and other characters, such as duration of leaves (evergreen or deciduous), presence of covering bracts on buds, succulence and epiphytism.

Below ground or under water - with resting buds lying either beneath the surface of the ground as a rhizome, bulb, corm, etc., or a resting bud submerged under water. Cryptophytes are divided into 3 groups:

Geophytes

Resting in dry ground, e.g. crocus, tulip. May be further subdivided into rhizome, stem-tuber, root-tuber, bulb and root geophytes.

New addition to the Raunkiaer lifeform classification. Plant that obtains moisture (though not through haustoria) and nutrients from the air and rain; usually grows on other plants but not parasitic on them.[9] This includes some Tillandsia species, as well as staghorn ferns.